Norge Closer To Starting Project

Renovations Scaled Down After Low Bids

JAMES CITY (COUNTY) — A scaled-back project to renovate and expand Norge Elementary School could begin in two weeks, school officials said Tuesday after opening bids from contractors.

A.D. Whittaker Construction Inc. of Ashland bid $4,889,000, making it the lowest bidder and probably the winner of the contract, said David Papenfuse, the school division's executive director of finance and administrative services.

A few details of the contract have to be worked out, he said, but that should not take more than a week.

"We're very pleased," Papenfuse said. "I know the staff at the school is going to like this."

School officials had previously planned for construction to begin in April, but the project was delayed when bids ranged from $6.6 million to $7.1 million. The low bid was about 30 percent higher than the division's $5.2 million budget for construction.

So plans were drawn again and some elements of the project were left out to save money.

The new plans call for a 25,000-square-foot addition with five fifth-grade classrooms and a new media center and art room. The building's roof will be replaced and new mechanical, electrical and computer systems will be installed.

Programs for working with handicapped children will not be moved into the addition as previously planned, though, and kitchen renovations and additional outside lighting were also eliminated.

Papenfuse said the work should still be completed by the fall of 1995 and will be sufficient to relieve overcrowding at the school.

Norge, built to hold 525 students, has an enrollment of 626 this year.

So little classroom space is available that the fifth grade is bused to Toano Middle School - where a few classrooms are available - for most of each day.